SILVER STAR RECIPIENTReluctant hero hailed in Lake JacksonSpc. Monica Brown says she just did her job in Afghanistan

ROSANNA RUIZ, Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle |
June 15, 2008

Army Spc. Monica Brown is honored in Lake Jackson on Saturday. She is the second woman since World War II to receive the Silver Star. Brown brushes aside praise for her actions and says others deserve to be honored, too.

Photo By Nick de la Torre/Chronicle

Garrett Williams and his daughter Emma, 4, wait for the arrival of Spc. Monica Brown on Saturday.

Photo By NICK de la TORRE/CHRONICLE

Army Spc. Monica Brown rides in a parade honoring her Saturday in Lake Jackson. Lt. Col. Troy A. Reeves, commander of the U.S. Army Recruiting Battalion in Houston, called Brown a soldier who represents "the epitome of our modern Army."

The 20-year-old Army medic didn't know what to say to the hundreds who attended a ceremony for her Saturday at the city's civic center plaza. They called Brown, the second woman since World War II to receive a Silver Star, their hometown hero.

"I don't expect anything from any of you," she told them, "and it's all too much for me to come home and see all of this stuff and see everyone out here."

Since Vice President Dick Cheney pinned the medal on her uniform in March, Brown has brushed aside any praise for her actions when her convoy was attacked by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan last April.

Brown has said she was just doing her job and that the soldiers she served with that day deserve to be honored, too.

Others, however, said she could have simply taken cover and waited out the attack.

Instead, she grabbed her medic bag and scrambled through a hail of bullets to treat the five wounded soldiers whose Humvee was hit in a bomb blast.

On Saturday, Brown, wearing a burgundy beret and camouflage uniform, thanked those supporting service members still serving in the war, including her brother Justin Brown, who enlisted with her two years ago.

She also thanked the soldiers with her April 25, 2007, when she was part of a four-vehicle convoy, patrolling near the village of Jani Khel when the bomb blast occurred at dusk.

Brown, attached to the 782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne, managed to get to the injured soldiers, who were thrown or stumbled from the burning vehicle. She hovered over one wounded soldier as mortar rounds landed nearby. The soldiers were removed to safety and survived their wounds.

Brown was removed from the front line shortly afterward.

The move upset Brown, as well as the soldiers she served alongside, her grandmother Katy Brown said.

"She was their medic and they felt safe with her," she said.

Brown's heroism led to questions about the role of women in war. Women in the military are banned from serving in combat units. On the day of last year's attack, Brown was asked to accompany the convoy team because she was the only medic available, according to published accounts.

Brown, who remains on active duty, recently returned to Fort Bragg in North Carolina.